Silverberg: Meeting today's needs can produce life-long benefits

Friday

Aug 30, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By KATHY SILVERBERG

This is the world of instant gratification. No need to wait until the film is developed to see your pictures or to stand by the mailbox waiting for a response to the heartfelt letter that was mailed a week before.

Or how about the days when students waited weeks with fear and trepidation for test results? Now they pop on the screen almost as soon as the "send" button has been tapped. Want to lose weight? Forget the weeks spent counting calories or working out in the gym. Just take a pill or swallow a special elixir and the pounds will melt away.

So it may not be surprising that policy decisions these days are based on how they will produce instant, or at least short-term, results. Little thought is given to the long-term implications of today's actions, even if they will mean heavy financial obligations down the road.

Just tell the teachers they will be paid on how well their students perform on standardized tests and presto! Children will learn. It may be they will simply learn how to do better on the tests while missing out on the kind of preparation they will need to reach their educational goals and go on to lead productive lives. But no matter. The taxpayers will be happy because their investment will show results in the short term.

Consider the minimum-sentencing requirements instituted when a few high-profile crimes were committed by people who had previously spent time in prison. People horrified by the crimes wanted an immediate solution. Few considered the cost of incarcerating so many people for long periods of time, not to mention the loss of productivity and human capital that comes when so many, particularly young men, are in prison.

A closer look at the prison population reveals that a disproportionate number are high school dropouts. A study conducted by researchers at Northeastern University in 2009 found that about one in 10 young male high school dropouts is in jail or juvenile detention on any given day, while that is the fate of only one in 35 of those who are better educated. The same study revealed that it costs society some $292,000 in lost tax revenue, public assistance and prison expenses for every high school dropout.

Despite these statistics, there is considerable resistance to spending public dollars to improve education, especially early-childhood education that can pay huge dividends down the road. The Pew Charitable Trust estimates that for an annual cost of $8,700 per child, 3- and 4-year-olds could be prepared for success in school, thus reducing the chance that they will drop out of high school and become part of a far more costly statistic.

At the other end of the age spectrum, seniors who find themselves in financially tenuous circumstances are vulnerable to health challenges that likely will require nursing home care. In many cases, that expensive alternative can be averted with intervention programs for a fraction of the cost.

But cuts to the Older Americans Act programs as a result of sequestration have put many local intervention efforts at risk. Barbara Peters Smith reported in the Herald-Tribune last week that in-home services and nutrition programs that have served many in this area are threatened despite their cost-effectiveness.

Estimates put the average cost of nursing home care at $83,000 per year with more than 70 percent of patients relying on Medicaid -- public funds -- to cover the cost. The Meals on Wheels Association of America has estimated that for every $1 in federal spending on senior nutrition programs, there is as much as a $50 return in Medicaid savings. Likewise, studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association indicate that unhealthful eating and a lack physical activity are responsible for some 14 percent of preventable deaths per year.

These figures make it clear that a little money spent on prevention programs can lead to major savings down the road, especially as this nation faces a dramatic increase in the number of seniors, and yet there is a reluctance to direct public dollars toward these vital services today.

The incalculable part of this discussion is the quality of life that can be affected so directly by programs that engage seniors, programs that educate the very young, programs aimed at ending generational poverty. Money spent getting ahead of problems is not only cost-effective; it can be life-changing as well. And no dollar value can be placed on the chance to live a fulfilling life.

Kathy Silverberg is the former publisher of the Herald-Tribune's southern editions. Email: kathy.silverberg@comcast.net